Between 1907 and 1930 Franklin witnessed arevolution in transportation as gasoline-poweredvehicles replaced the horse and buggy and steam-powered transportation. Even as Franklin benefited from a boom in buggy making duringthe first decade of the twentieth century, theautomobile came to Franklin. In 1913 Franklin'sfirst car dealership opened, and by 1919 carsoutnumbered buggies on Franklin streets.Franklin adopted the Town Manager form ofgovernment in 1922. Soon after, the Town pavedits streets with concrete or macadamized stone toadapt to the Age of Gasoline. Hard surfacedstreets, sidewalks, and curbs replaced dirt andgravel streets, hitching posts, and wateringtroughs. The Camp mill continued to use theriver and the railroads survived as freight carriers,but the character of Franklin's futuredevelopment - though retarded by thedepression and World War II - would bedetermined by the automobile. After the warhomes and businesses were built farther and farther from the old business district. "Camp tugboats continued to pull bargesof North Carolina logs upriver each week toFranklin [after 1928]. A bridge operator stillcontrolled the draw at South Quay on theBlackwater River so the Union Camp tugcould go downriver on Sunday to load itsbarges and come back to the mill the following Friday. It was a Franklin ritual."???Park Rouse Jr., 1988

Time Line Included: 1961 - Franklin is incorporated as a second class city. Commercial strip development west of downtown begins. 1963 - Franklin creates the Franklin Redevelopment and Housing Authority to build low-income housing and redevelop downtown.1967 - Franklin builds a new high school.1968 - Dr. A.B. Harrison, Franklin's first black public official since the 1870's is elected to the city council.1970 - The Franklin schools are integrated in the fall. 1971 - Paul D. Camp Community College opens.1976 - Dr. A.B. Harrison becomes mayor.1985 - Franklin is designated on of Virginia's first five Main Street Cities.1999 - International Paper buys Union Camp. The downtown is devastated by flooding from Hurricane Floyd.

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